10 Insanely Overpaid Public Employees

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When it comes to government employees, there’s plenty of news about laid off social workers in Florida, furloughed forest rangers in Minnesota, and underpaid teachers everywhere else. Yet even during these hard times, there are thousands of government employees who still earn great, big salaries – many of them hundreds of thousands more than the $400,000 Obama pulls down each year. In 2009, 347 Texas state employees earned more than the president; 53 of them made more than $600,000. In New York, 35 employees were paid over $400k last year. Since 2005, the number of Federal employees earning $150,000 plus has jumped tenfold: going from 12,399 to 171,689. Much of the increase has been in medicine. Doctors at veterans hospitals and prisons averaged $179,500 in 2010, up from $111,000 in 2005.

See our slideshow here on 10 insanely overpaid government employees. We reported all their yearly earnings, which in addition to base salary, includes bonuses, overtime pay, and other pay. The “other pay” can be things like unused sick days--$594,976 worth of them for one California employee – something private sector employees could only dream of. Oh, and did we mention all of them are men?